Why Does the Summer Day Delay?
by ThatGuyRex
Summary: A new ending to the Animorphs series - or is it a beginning?
1. The beginning of the End

PART 1:  
Why does the Summer Day Delay? (When will time flow away?)  
  
  
  
Two minutes left, Rachel. I could hear the worry in Tobias's thought speak.  
  
I also felt the blood running down my head. I looked up, squinting to make out Visser Three's Andalite form towering over me, the bladed tail poised ready to strike. I was in bear morph, but a long fight had tired me out, and that's when the Visser had delivered the   
fatal blow, his tail cracking my protective skull.  
  
Rachel, demorph. Come on! That was Tobias. I visualized his face in my mind. The strong, fierce hawk's gaze, or the troubled, emotional human eyes. Of course, right now he was a dragonfly, watching from someplace farther away, safe. Why didn't he come rescue me? It was getting so hard to think.  
  
Where has all your Andalite bravery gone? The Visser's voice sneered in my head. Looks like the proud warriors aren't so tough after all. His stalk eyes looked down at my cowering form on the grass, already turning red with blood - my blood...  
  
Visser! You don't know HOW tough we are! A distraction. It must be Tobias, yelling from his dragonfly morph. Everything was so fuzzy, but it could't end this way. I heard Tobias again. Don't be foolish, Rachel - demorph! We can fight him again another day!  
  
The moment the Visser had turned, looking for the source of the second voice, I brought my large grizzly paw around and smacked him. My blow hit his front legs, causing him to collapse forward.  
  
But I had forgotten about the stalk eyes.  
  
The one thing that allowed Andalites to look in more than one direction at once.  
  
With the lightening speed only Andalite tails have, he brought his tail up and sliced off my head.  
  
The picture faded away like an old T.V. set.  
  
"Simulation over." The dull mechanical voice came from the computer. I pulled off the simulation goggles and turned to see Tobias, grinning at me.  
  
"Looks like someone could use some more practise, huh, Rachel?"   
  
I hung my goggles on a hook near the computer panel and turned to him. "Yes, but someone else was cheating a little." I pointed to the screen. "Difficulty level 25?"  
  
He grinned at me and shoved his blond hair, which hadn't been cut for a while, out of his face. "Well, the highest is 30..."  
  
"Sure." I grinned back at him and left the simulation bay.  
  
Let me explain to you who I am. My name is Rachel. I could tell you my last name, because now the Yeerks know my identity, but it woudln't feel right. That part of me is gone. That part of all of us is gone. There used to be six of us. We didn't sound very formidable, Jake, Cassie, Marco, Tobias, Ax the Andalite, and me, but we were given the power by a dying andalite prince, Elfangor, to morph into any animal we touched. What are the Yeerks? They're an alien parasite from outer space that squeezes into your ear and takes over your brain. Fun, huh?  
  
Not half as much fun as what we've been through.  
  
I read somewhere that the trial and tribulations human kind goes through shapes their characters, and can either make them stronger, or weaker. You know the old saying, .what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'. I think that happened to me. I am stronger inside. I can kill innocents without remorse, and look forward to chances to kill my enemies. Let me tell you how I came to be like this.  
  
We fought the Yeerks for a long time. Probably too long. This would have happened sooner or later, but the newly promoted Visser One, the same Visser Three I fought in the simulation bay, figured out the most carefully guarded secret of the six of us.   
  
Five of us were human.  
  
They figured out our identities, so we had to take our families and retreat into hiding. Jake went into the biggest guilt trip in history and blamed himself for everyhting. Cassie tried to talk to him, we all did, but when Cassie tried she ended up calling him a coward. He went kinda crazy on her and walked away.  
  
Right into an advancing line of Taxxon Trackers and Hork-Bajir warriors.  
  
They killed him before he could so much as scream.  
  
Pandemonium erupted as soon as the attack became known. A few Chee along with some Hork-Bajir readied a ship to take us into space un-noticed, at least, until the Yeerks decided to look there.  
  
So far we've been lucky.   
  
Tobias and I decided to join the Chee and others on the ship. We managed to convince Cassie to join us. She was really upset overJake, and it changed her a lot. Gone was the empathetic, sympathetic, animal-lover I used to know as my best friend. Cassie became more withdrawn and spent a lot of time by herself.   
  
Marco wouldn't come with us. He wanted to stay on earth with his dad. We said his dad could come too, but they both insisted on staying there.  
  
I watched them both die together, already leaving for space. They fought bravely, but the Hork-Bajir fought harder.  
  
And now we come to Aximili. The Andalite we rescued from under the sea, who fought alongside us for a long time, lost his will to keep battling. Ax 'fell on his own sword', you could say.   
  
Except in his case the sword was a tail blade.  
  
So that leaves us with the three remaining Animorphs, Tobias, Cassie and I, on a ship that combines Chee and Andalite technology, as well as a little of the Hork-Bajir's primitive technology and a few human advances. Passengers on the ship are the three remaining free humans, and a handful of Hork-Bajir. Our little ship, dubbed Titanic when I was in a Marco-like mood, could only carry that many.  
  
And then there was my family. They didn't kill my family. They just waited until the battle was over and infested them. My Mom, my sister Sarah, and my sister Jordan.  
  
So you see, I've seen death, I've seen worse than death. It's toughened me up, outside and inside. Tobias thinks it's somehow done more. If the old Cassie was around I could ask her for advice. She could see how I've changed. But not even the new Cassie is around anymore.  
  
Shortly after the whole leaving on a ship thing, Cassie fell apart. We found her one morning, halfway into wolf morph, with an empty tylenol bottle in her still human hand.  
  
As if she got scared and tried to morph to keep it from happening, but was too late.  
  
If my mom was here, she'd tell me that no matter what happened, as long as I kept going everything would work out eventually. Maybe it did.  
  
Tobias morphed human and stayed that way, so he was a nothlit again. But he was human. When he told me he did it so he could spend his last days as a human I smacked him - but I, too knew that it wouldn't take long for the Visser to find our little ship, with a primitive cloaking device, unable to get out of orbit. We did the only natural thing for the last two members of a species to do. We procreated. Our blond haired, blue eyed boy was born nine months later, March 15, for the record, we added Christofer Frederik to the ship's passengers. We made sure we had made provisions for his future - If the Visser found us, we only had one way out, and then, six months later, it happened.  
  
The Visser found us.  
  
The Hork-Bajir sounded the alarm, and we quickly prepared our escape plan - it was not for any of the Hork-Bajir, and not for Tobias or myself either. When we built the ship, we used up our limited resources on one small escape pod - big enough to hold a baby or small child. It was powerful enough to fire out of this solar system, at least, and it would drift hidden for about a month, and then come down on the first habitable planet it found. A computer inside would perform the necessary tasks to keep Christofer alive, and talk to him as well - we didn't want our baby to grow up mute.  
  
We loaded our baby into the escape pod, and Tobias shut the door. I wanted to give my son one last kiss, hold him a little longer. But that would be showing weakness. We needed all the time we could get. I squared my jaw and pushed the button that would detach the pod from our ship, and it would shoot into space, unnoticed.   
  
"Live to fight another day, my son." I whispered to the departing pod as I watched it through the viewscreen. Then, Visser's voice thundered into the ship.  
  
You didn't even have the sense to run, did you, humans? He laughed. Let me finish now what I should have one year ago.   
  
I shivered. He had no reason to keep us alive - he had earth. But I was not about to go down quietly. I started to morph grizzly. "Rachel..." Tobias started.  
  
But that was as far as he got. A beam of white light incinerated the ship, and all that was on it.  
  
And that's where my story ends. But the escape pod shot through the blue-black sky. His story was just beginning.  
  
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Note: I do not in any part own the Animorphs or their characters.  
Read part 2, coming soon, for Christofer's story.  
  
  
Hope you liked it!  
~LadyBianca 


	2. The beginning of the Beginning

Part 2 - Christofer's Story  
  
The small round blue pod drifted through space. The child inside slept, woke, slept, as the surrogate robot mother performed the necessary tasks to keep him alive, as well as teach him There was just enough room for the small child to toddle around, once his legs grew strong enough for walking.  
  
Finally, year and a half later, the pod dropped into orbit. The planet was large, earth-like. As the orbit slowly degraded, the ship dropped into a body of water. A lake, the robot noticed. After washing up on shore, the robot detached himself from the pod. Looking around, he determined that it was safe, and lifted the baby out, setting him on his feet. He let the boy play with a toy on the grass nearby as he rummaged around in the pod to salvage anything useful.  
  
[IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'VE MADE IT, EREK.] A voice. Christofer looked up, and then continued making a castle out of grass for his figurine.  
  
"We have, Ellimist." Erek the Chee replied. His mission was finished.  
  
[THIS IS CHRISTOFER.] The Ellimist's voice continued. [HE WILL GO ON WHERE HIS PARENTS LEFT OFF.]  
  
Christofer looked up as a blinding white light illuminated him. The pod disappeared. So did Christofer.  
  
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Disclaimer - I do not own Animorphs. Christofer is a character I made up myself. 


	3. The Prophecy, in the flesh

Part 3 - Christofer's Story  
  
  
Erek looked over the now empty bank of the lake. "Good luck, little Christofer."  
  
[THE TIME SHIFTING WORKED, EREK. EARTH IS NOW IN HUMAN YEAR 2102. YEERK INTEREST IN THE PLANET WANED AFTER A WHILE, MOST INFESTED HUMANS LEFT. NEW CHILDREN WERE BORN FREE. THE YEERKS LET THE PLANET RE-POPULATE NATURALLY. NOW, THE INVASION HAS BEGAN AGAIN. I HAVE ASSEMBLED MY FORCE. FIND YOUR OWN KIND. THE CHEE STILL INHABIT EARTH.]  
  
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"This is Christofer... continue where his parents left off... live to fight another day, my son..." The voices played over and over in my head as I slept.  
  
[CHRISTOFER.] I bolted awake. What was that? My name.. the voice sounded so familiar, yet so different. A minute later, My alarm went off. I slapped at it and it shut off. A moment later I heard Jack yelling.  
  
"Christofer, get down here right now and feed Jimmy and Suzie. NOW!"  
  
I guess you could say Jack was my father. He says someone dumped me on his doorstep when I was two. I have to call him Jack, though. Georgia let me call her Mom sometimes, but I'm too old for that now. Georgia is Jack's wife. Jimmy and Suzie are their kids. I'm basically the live in babysitter and janitor. At least I go to school. That provides a bit of escape.  
  
Anyway, I got downstairs pretty fast and made the kids their pancakes. Next I got them ready for school and sent them on their way. Then it was my turn. I was all ready and went out the door. I had only gotten to the end of the block when -   
  
[CHRISTOFER.] The voice again. "Who's there?" I called. My voice echoed off the buildings in the alleyway.  
  
[YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY, CHRISTOFER.] No I'm not. I'm going to school. I thought that, but he... the voice answered me anyway. [YOU ARE NEEDED SOMEWHERE ELSE.]   
  
Needed. That was a laugh. Who could need me?  
  
Everything turned white for a moment. As soon as my vision cleared, I saw that I was standing in what looked like the basement. Ripped couches lined the wall, and five kids were sitting there. They looked my age. Three girls, two guys. Two of the girls were twins.   
  
They also did not look surprised to see me appear in a flash of light.  
  
One of them stood up. The girl, the one who wasn't a twin. She had long brown hair. "What's your name?" She asked, coming closer.   
  
Why weren't they surprised to see a boy appear in their hangout? Why such a weird first question? "Uh, Christofer." I replied, hesitantly.  
  
One of the twins sprang up. Her short black hair bounced with her head and her green eyes sparkled. "Fiona..." She said, looking very excited.  
  
The tall girl, Fiona held out her hand in a 'stop' gesture to the twin. "Hello, Christofer." She replied. "Tell me, do you know who your parents are?"  
  
Okay, this was getting weird. Time to haul outta here. Too bad I didn't move. "No. Why are you asking me this?"  
  
The twin cut off Fiona's answer with an excited squeal. "He's the Prophecy... the ellimist didn't let us down!"  
  
The prophecy? What kind of nut talk was this? Yet, something felt right about it. Fiona motioned me to the couch.   
  
"We'll tell you the story... of Rachel and Tobias."  
  
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Author's Note: The plot thickens ;-)  
I do not own Animorphs, Christofer was created by me, I am not making any money off of this, yada yada. 


	4. The filling of an empty head

Christofer's Story - Part four.  
  
I sat on the couch silently, my head spinning. My parents.. How was it that I had no idea who they even where, but these random teenagers knew their whole history?  
  
I listened to Fiona's story. Six kids. Jake, Cassie, Aximili, Rachel, Tobias. The Animorphs. Five human kids... one Andalite. An alien that looks like a blue human/deer. The Yeerks. Parasites that take over people's brains. Those kids were the resistance. They tried to hold on to earth. They failed. Only Rachel, Tobias and Cassie escaped.   
  
Rachel and Tobias were my parents. Their ship was blown up, but they had enough energy for me to escape.  
  
That voice. It was the Ellimist. He was some omnipotent being against the Yeerks. He couldn't do anything to stop the Yeerks, but he often aided the kids... the Animorphs.. in their fight. With a cost, of course. He was the one who brought me here. He kept me alive in space, shifted time so that I could be here right now, assembled a new resistance.  
  
But what would the cost be?  
  
I was introduced to the others sitting on the couch. The excited twin was Ashley. Her sister was Aimee. The boys were Greg, tall with brown hair, and Mark, short and blond.  
  
The story was over and Ashley stood up. "The sixth member is here... guys, it has to work now!"  
  
Fiona stood up. "All right, guys. Let's try." They all started moving to the back of the room.  
  
This was insane. Impossible. Time travel? Humans turning into animals? Body snatchers? I was out of here.  
  
But as I tried to turn to leave, my feet wouldn't move. What was going on now?  
  
"Come on Christofer. We need you over here." It was Aimee. She started leading me to the back. As I got closer, I saw that they were all waiting by the wall. On the wall there were six small holes. Fingerprints, almost.  
  
What was that above the fingerprints? Animals. I looked closer.  
  
Tiger. Fiona was standing in front of that one.  
Gorilla. Ashley was in front of it.  
Hawk. Mark was in front of that one.  
Elephant. Greg.  
Wolf. That was Aimee's spot. I could tell by the way she stepped right in front of it. She smiled at me and pulled me into what I supposed was my spot.  
  
I looked at the wall. Above the little fingerprint was a grizzly bear.  
  
Fiona looked down the line. "All right guys, now." They all pushed their fingers against the fingerprint on the wall. Aimee looked at me. "Just touch the wall."  
  
I definitely was not sure what was going on. I also was not sure I wanted to touch that wall. What was this? bYour destiny/b, a voice inside told me.  
  
I touched the wall.  
  
Immediately a burst of white light illuminated us. iThe light again/i, I thought.   
  
We were standing in what looked like a white room. A very white room. As in so white that you couldn't tell wall from floor from ceiling. A table sat in the middle, with a small sky blue cube resting on top.  
  
I looked around. The others were here, too. Fiona walked up to the table. The rest followed: Ashley looking excited, Aimee looking exasperated at her sister, Greg looking sullen... why? And Mark. I couldn't read his expression. I followed them to the table.  
  
[FINALLY, YOU HAVE ALL MADE IT.] The Ellimist! I knew that voice by now.  
  
"We have, Ellimist. It is time." Fiona answered the voice, while the others remained silent.  
  
[CHRISTOFER. IT IS TIME I GAVE YOU BACK WHAT IS YOURS.] The light grew brighter for a moment and suddenly... I remembered. Memories tumbled into my mind, all jumbled up. In a second, they were all sorted out. I remembered my childhood. The pod. Erek, my surrogate parent. I remembered the stories he told me of my parents and their battles. I remembered the films he showed me with his hologram. I remembered their war. My parents. Not their real selves, but the images Erek would show me. How he would change his hologram to resemble my mother when I was upset. Kind of like I was right now.  
  
I looked up, meeting the gazes of the others. People I had only met an hour ago, and look where we were now.  
  
"Wow." I said, softly.  
  
The blue box levitated off the table slightly. Fiona gave everyone a significant look and they placed their hands on each side of the box.   
  
[YOU HAVE THE POWER, CHRISTOFER. GIVE IT TO THEM.]  
  
I knew what the Ellimist meant. I placed my hand on the top of the box, feeling the tingle.  
  
I was giving them the power that was in my blood. My parents' blood. I was an Animorph.  
  
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Author's Note: I do not own Animorphs. Don't sue me. 


End file.
